Hands-on programs demonstrate past activities

On Saturday, April 8, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, the Madison County Historical Society will host a Heritage Handicraft Workshop on Decorative Painting on Paper Mache. Pamela Vogan Lynch will lead the workshop and attendees will decoratively paint a paper mache toting bunny. Reservations are required and the cost is $16. To reserve your place or for more information, visit www. mchs 1900. org or call 315-363-4136.

On Saturday, April 8, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Oneida Community Mansion House will host a historic preservation workshop on slate and slate roofing. Slate experts Levine & Company Roof Consulting and Architectural Conservation explain the sources and uses of slate in preservation. The workshop will enable participants to discuss slate building materials as well as handle examples of slate. Admission is $30 for members and $40 for nonmembers. For more information, call 315-363-0745 or visit www.oneidacommunity.org.

On Saturday, April 8, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the Kirkland Town Library will host a genealogy workshop. Yvonne Brady well lead a tour of the library’s genealogy resources and various avenues to explore your family history. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. To register or for more information, call 315-853-2038.

On Saturday, April 8, at a time TBD, the Oneida Community Mansion House will host a special presentation by high school students completing their (de) Constructing Gender Seminar. Students will present their digital media productions through which they express their own thinking about ideas and practices of gender. These productions were created following a five-week seminar with Syracuse University Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies Simone Puff and Oneida Community Mansion House Curator of Education Molly Jessup. For more information, contact Molly Jessup at mjessup@oneidacommunity.org or call 315-3630745.

On Tuesday, April 11, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special basket class with Linda Scherz Allen. These special classes will be “open weave classes.” Attendees can purchase a basket kit from Linda or they can purchase materials and make what they want with assistance from Linda. Students can preregister by paying $100 for four classes and $25 for each additional class. To register or for more information, visit www.adirondackbasketry.com or email lindascherzallen@outlook.com.

On Wednesday, April 12, at 10 a.m., the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a volunteer open house. New and current volunteers are invited to stop in to learn about volunteer opportunities at the landing. There will be a special presentation on boat building and more. There is no charge for this event. For more information, visit www.chittenangolanding.com or call 315687-3801.

On Saturday, April 15, at 8 a.m., the Rome Historical Society will host a bird watching tour along the towpath of the Erie Canal. The tour will launch from the Rome Sports Hall of Fame and walk west along the old canal towpath. Part history and part bird watching, the tour will attempt to find warblers, sparrows, vireos and other migrating birds while incorporating history from the canal and the Great Carrying Place. Participants are encouraged to bring their own binoculars. No pets allowed as they can disturb the wildlife. For more information, call 315-336-5870 or visit www.romehistoricalsociety.org.

On Saturday, April 15, at 1 p.m., the Oneida County History Center will host a special presentation entitled “Murder of a Herkimer County Teacher.” Author Dennis Webster will give an unprecedented look into the details of one of the most influential murder trials in New York state history recounting the murder of 21year old Lida Beecher by a former student in Poland. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-735-3642 or visit www.oneidacountyhistory.org.

On Monday, April 17, at 7 p.m., the New Woodstock Regional Historical Society will host a special evening with World War II veteran Stan Davis. Davis was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the European Theatre during WWII. He served as a crew chief on P47 style planes as well serving as an engineer on C47 transport planes. He also was an amateur photographer who took and collected more than 700 photos of his time overseas. Madison County Historian Matthew Urtz recently digitized these images and will feature a number of these images as part of the talk. Davis will talk about his experiences and the photos. There is no charge

for this event. For more information, contact 315366-2453.

On Wednesday, April 19, at 7 p.m., the Sherrill-Kenwood Library will host a special presentation by Madison County Historian Matthew Urtz entitled “Samuel Beckwith; Grant’s Shadow.” Urtz will tell the story of Beckwith who was born and raised in Hamilton, N.Y. and worked as the cipher operator for Ulysses S. Grant and at the end of the war President Lincoln. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-363-5980.

On Saturday, April 22, at 11:30 a.m., the Oneida Community Mansion House will host a special Earth Day nature photography and cleanup hike around Sunset Lake. Bring your camera and capture woodland plans and animals in photographs. The best photos will be exhibited on the OCMH Facebook Page and at the following week’s Arbor Day event. Hike around the lake pathway and help restored the lake edge and woodlands. Litter-picking tools will be provided. For more information, call 315-363-0745 or visit www. oneidacommunity.org.

On Saturday, April 22, at 11 a.m., the Sherrill-Kenwood Free Library will host a special presentation by Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum blacksmith Mike Allen about the museum. Allen will speak about the uniqueness of the facility, its re- discovery and restoration. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-363-5980.

On Saturday, April 23, at 1 p.m., the Oneida Community Mansion House will host a special presentation entitled “Reproductive Freedom-Who Decides?” Oneida Community Mansion House Curator of Education Molly Jessup and Beth LeGere, public affairs director of Mohawk Hudson Planned Parenthood, speak about who historically controlled a woman’s body in the 19th and 20th centuries and how this was a key principle for the utopian Oneida Community. The fee is $7 for non-members, free for members. For more information, visit www.oneidacommunity.org.

On Tuesday, April 25, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special basket class with Linda Scherz Allen. These special classes will be “open weave classes.” Attendees can purchase a basket kit from Linda or they can purchase materials and make what they want with assistance from Linda. Students can preregister by paying $100 for four classes and $25 for each additional class. To register or for more information, visit www.adirondackbasketry.com or email lindascherzallen@outlook.com.

On Wednesday, April 26, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m.. the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special basket class with Linda Scherz Allen. These special classes will be “open weave classes.” Attendees can purchase a basket kit from Linda or they can purchase materials and make what they want with assistance from Linda. Students can preregister by paying $100 for four classes and $25 for each additional class. To register or for more information, visit www.adirondackbasketry.com or email lindascherzallen@outlook.com.

On Wednesday, April 26, at 7 p.m., the Canastota Canal Town Museum will host a special Canalside entitled “Life of a Lift Bridge,” at the Canastota Public Library. Local Historian Joe DiGiorgio will present the fascinating and sometimes humorous history of events behind the Canastota lift bridge, its surroundings and its people. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-6977030.

On Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m., the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special presentation entitled “The Erie Canal and Woman Suffrage: from Boats to Votes.” The presentation, by Pamela Vittorio, will look into how the Erie Canal impacted the women’s suffrage movement. There is no charge for this event. For more information, visit www.chittenangolanding.com or call 315687-3801.

On Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m., the Cazenovia Public Library will host a special Suffrage/Anti-Suffrage Debate sponsored by the Lorenzo State Historic Site. Celebrating the centennial of New York passing the women’s suffrage law the Lorenzo State Historic Site will show the opposing views that dominated headlines leading up to the vote in 1917. Cordell Reaves, historic interpretation and preservation analyst for the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will act as the moderator. Barbara Blaisdell will portray Susan B. Anthony presenting the arguments for the pro-suffrage side while Madison County Historian Matthew Urtz will present the arguments for the anti-suffrage side. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call the Lorenzo State Historic Site at 315-655-3200.

On Saturday, April 29, at 11 a.m., the Oneida Community Mansion House will observe Arbor Day. Come and enjoy a woodland scavenger hunt and learn to identify trees by their leaves build your own birdfeeder (materials fee required), learn about maple syrup productions with students from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School’s Future Farmers Association, marvel as a professional arborist climbs trees and visit the Utica Zoomobile. Food truck refreshments will be available for purchase. The first 100 attendees receive a pine seedling courtesy of Bartlett Tree Service. For more information, call 315-363-0745 or visit www.oneidacommunity.org.

On Saturday, April 29, at 1 p.m., the Oneida County History Center will host a special presentation by Liz Covart. Covart will discuss the New England Migration into New York state throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-735-3642 or visit www. oneidacountyhistory.org.

On Sunday, May 7, at 1 p.m., the Oneida Community Mansion House by historian Jason Newton on Theodore Roosevelt’s early adult experiences. Newton will examine how Roosevelt’s experiences in Maine and at Harvard impacted the urban elites concept of selfmade manhood was displaced by a romanticized view of the rural working class male body. This discussion is supported by a Humanities New York Action Grant. Admission is $7 for adult non-members, $3 for student non-members and free for members. For more information, call 315-363-0745 or visit www. oneidacommunity.org.

On Tuesday, May 9, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special basket class with Linda Scherz Allen. These special classes will be “open weave classes.” Attendees can purchase a basket kit from Linda or they can purchase materials and make what they want with assistance from Linda. Students can preregister by paying $100 for four classes and $25 for each additional class. To register or for more information, visit www.adirondackbasketry.com or email lindascherzallen@outlook.com.

On Saturday, May 13, at 1 p.m., the Homeville Museum will hold their annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Inductions include Secret Service member Eli DeVoe, astronomer Lewis N. Swift, artist Francis B. Carpenter, international fly fishing teacher Leon Chandler and heavy metal musician Ronnie James Dio. For more information, visit https:// homevillemuseum.wordpress.com.

On Tuesday, May 16, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special basket class with Linda Scherz Allen. These special classes will be “open weave classes.” Attendees can purchase a basket kit from Linda or they can purchase materials and make what they want with assistance from Linda. Students can preregister by paying $100 for four classes and $25 for each additional class. To register or for more information, visit www.adirondackbasketry.com or email lindascherzallen@outlook.com.

On Friday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m., the Morrisville Public Library welcomes Madison County Historian Judy Lyrek who will present on Historical Houses in Eaton. Lyrek authored the book “Eaton’s Historic Houses,” an architectural and historical survey of houses in Eaton, N/Y/ built before 1900 in 2007. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-684-9130.

On Saturday, May 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum will host a special workshop by David Salvetti entitled “Introduction to Woodworking.” Salvetti, of the Adirondack Folk School, will examine basics of working wood with a focus on hand tool techniques. Topics will include understanding solid wood itself, planning a project, what tools to start with, how to sharpen quickly and introductory techniques. After taking this class, students will be ready to start building simple to moderate level woodworking projects. All tools and materials necessary for the class will be provided. Attendees are encouraged to call Salvetti at least a week in advance at 315-341-8720 to discuss their focus and allow him to prepare to help individuals. Tuition and materials are $115 for members of the Adirondack Folk School and $135 for non-members. Ages 16 and up. To register or for more information, visit https:// www.adirondackfolkschool.org/ afs/ index. php? m= Course & cid = 1132.

On Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21, the Homeville Museum (a component of the CNY Living History Center) in Cortland, N.Y. will host their second annual Civil War Camp. More information to come at https:// homevillemuseum.wordpress.com.

On Tuesday, May 23, at 7 p.m., the Canastota Canal Town Museum will host a special Canalside entitled “An Erie Boat Captain” at the Canastota Public Library. Acting Canal Boat Captain Michele Henry will share stories and adventures from the “Old Erie Canal,” explaining how for many canal boats became floating houses traveling from town to town. There is no charge for this event. For more information, call 315-697-7030.